Simple Lacinato Kale Salad with Walnuts & Lemon Dressing | The Worktop (2024)

This Simple Lacinato Kale Salad with Walnuts, Bacon, and Lemon Dressing is packed full of vitamins, minerals and nutrients for a super food brunch.

I recently partnered with Marks and Spencer to create several super brunch recipes using their new cook and dine collection. M&S provided me with the pots, pans, serveware, utensils... and all that was left for me to do was to decide on the recipes to make, and get cooking. Today, I'm sharing one of the four super brunch recipes that I developed for M&S -- a Simple Lacinato Kale Salad with Walnuts, Bacon, and Lemon Dressing. This post is sponsored by M&S.

As it's December already in London, everyone here is missing the sun. Having grown up in California, I'm used to the sun all year round, so during these streaks of grey overcast days, I have been feeling a little homesick...

Since I can't go home at the snap of my fingers or bring the California sun here, I decided to do the next best thing and share with you what I think is the quintessential Californian recipe: a Simple Lacinato Kale Salad with Walnuts, Bacon, and Lemon Dressing. It is a "simple" salad that's easy to make, but it is bursting with vitamins, nutrients and flavor!

This Lacinato Kale Salad is a true super brunch

There are a lot of health benefits to tell you about. This Simple Lacinato Kale Salad is a powerful super brunch! Kale is a nutritionally rich food that is full of vitamins and minerals, including Vitamins A, C, and E, iron, calcium and potassium. Walnuts are full of heart-healthy fats, and an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids.

But that's not all. The lemon dressing will also give you a super boost of goodness. Lemons are brimming with Vitamin C and antioxidants, and olive oil is a healthy fat. And the bacon...well, it's just too tasty to pass up.

A Lacinato Kale Salad that is delicious and easy to make

For this recipe, I use lacinato kale, which is also known by a few other names including dino kale, Tuscan kale, black kale, Italian kale, or Tuscan cabbage. I prefer lacinato kale for a salad because it's a bit milder in taste and all the nooks in the leaves absorb and hold any dressing very well. Raw kale can be a bit tough to chew, but when you massage the dressing well into the leaves, the lemon and the olive oil break down and soften the leaves into an enjoyable salad.

I opted to add bacon pieces to this Simple Lacinato Kale Salad because the bacon adds a touch of savory saltiness. Once the bacon grease has been rendered, I toast the walnuts in the grease, so the salty bacon flavor is more evenly distributed throughout the salad. To balance out this saltiness, I add craisins for sweetness and use a lemon dressing for tang. Every forkful of this Simple Lacinato Kale Salad is a flavorful super foods hit.

Get the look from this M&S photoshoot

The M&S Chef Range is a full line of cookware and serveware developed with Marks & Spencer's in-house chefs so you can cook like a pro in your own home. You can get the look of this salad with the Chef Mini Copper Fry Pan, Chef Walnut Chopping Board, and Hampton Large Serving Bowl. The Chef Mini Copper Fry Pan is the perfect size for toasting a handful of walnuts, and is beautiful to bring to the table as serveware. The Walnut Chopping Board is very sturdy and hardwearing, making it a practical board to chop on. Lastly, the elegant serving bowl completes the look of the kale salad when set on a brunch table.

See my other Super Foods Brunch recipes created for M&S.

This is the first of the series ofSuper Brunch recipes I created for M&S that I will be sharing on The Worktop. Find my other two recipes for Huevos Rancheros - Mexican Baked Eggs and Bircher Muesli for Ginger, Apples and Poppy Seeds on the M&S website. Photography for this post was taken by the talented Tim Atkins.